Together Forever
by letscountstars
Summary: In which Jay and Nathan celebrate their first anniversary.


"Go on, open it." Jay nudged Nathan's shoulder, encouraging him to unwrap the small box sitting on his lap. They were alone in the flat—Tom and Siva were with their girlfriends, Max was on grocery duty—and Jay had decided that if there was a perfect time to give Nathan his gift for their first anniversary (which, coincidentally, fell on Christmas day), it was now. He had been stressing long and hard about getting it perfectly and, after many sleepless nights and sneaky trips to the mall, was finally satisfied with it—which was mainly why he gave it first thing in the morning and was now waiting impatiently for him to open it.

"You didn't have to do this, you know," Nathan said, looking up at him with those blue-green eyes of his. "Of course I did," Jay retorted, lightly kissing him on the nose. "Now will you just shut up and open the freakin' gift?"

"All right, all right. Don't get your knickers in a twist," Nathan laughed and—to Jay's satisfaction—ripped off the wrapper and opened the box. The latter held his breath and looked at Nathan expectantly, waiting for the reaction. It was slow going: first, he just held the cover aloft and stared at the box's contents. Then, at Jay's prodding, he took it out and held it in his hand. It was a necklace: the symbol for infinity hanging from a thin but sturdy chain.

When Jay had bought it just yesterday, it was the last one in stock. He'd asked the owner of the stall about it and it found out that it was originally his daughter's, who got it from her then-boyfriend, who had broken up with her. "She came home crying that day and just threw it in the trash can," he had said. "I couldn't just let it go to waste, so I put it up for sale. With her permission, of course. Now every time I come home after work, she asks me if anyone's bought it."

"Well then, tell her someone finally has," Jay said with a smile, handing over the five pounds it cost. "There used to be two of them, you know. The one my daughter used to own, and the one belonging to her ex, who—just like her—threw a perfectly good piece of jewelry in the trash. Found it in a pawnshop around last week, cleaned it, put it on the rack. Someone bought it yesterday," the owner said, handing over the change and rummaging around for a bag to put the necklace in.

"Thanks, mate. Have a nice day."

"No, thank _you_," the man—who had given up on looking for a bag—said, placing the necklace in Jay's hand and closing it over itself.

Now, Nathan slowly let out a breath and whispered, "It's beautiful, Bird. Thank you."

"Anything for you," Jay answered, leaning in to kiss Nathan. He was interrupted by a finger on his lips. "Wait," Nathan said. "I've got something for you, too. He produced a box from it's hiding place under a throw pillow. "Sorry I didn't wrap it, I couldn't find a wrapper anywhere."

"In other words, you were lazy," Jay teased before opening it. Inside was the other half of his gift to Nathan, the other necklace, the one her ex threw out.

"So that's why there was only one left," Jay murmured, taking out the necklace and staring at it in awe. It was an exact replica: from the gold infinity symbol to the slight tarnishing of the silver chain.

"Yeah, I got it on Saturday."

"The day before I bought the last one. Hey, did you know that these used to belong to the owner of the stall's daughter and her boyfriend?"

"Yeah, he told me that too. Then they got into a huge fight—the bastard cheated on her or something—and broke up."

"How come you get all the juicy bits?" Jay asked, feigning annoyance. Nathan just shrugged. "Then they both threw out their necklaces, which somehow found their way back to her dad," he continued, finishing the story.

"I guess it was meant to be, huh? Seeing that it belonged to a couple before," Nathan said, reaching over and draping the necklace in his hand on Jay's neck.

"The only difference being that we're not gonna break up any time soon, are we?" he replied, doing the same with the necklace he was holding.

"Not on your life."

"Together?"

This time, it was Nathan who leaned in and planted a soft kiss on Jay's lips.

"Forever."


End file.
